Woodstock Collegiate Institute was the scene of much fun and many hugs on May 30th, 2015. I feel so fortunate to have travelled through these years with my high school friends. High school. Awkward and anxious as it was at times, it was also the magnificent making of us in many ways. I wish I had taken more pictures, but I was too busy with the surprises of joyful reconnections, and the gratitude of wonderful memories.
To walk through the modest halls and classrooms of this 75-yr. old building crystallized again the ideas from which we grew our roots. If we consider “Success is the ability to go from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm,” (Anonymous), we know we don’t always keep that enthusiasm, but we remember to reclaim it at times and places like this, when everything was new and everything was possible.
What a day it was! Rejoining the world after these hours of being bubbled in the past was a refreshing re-emergence. It brings to the surface a quote from Thornton Wilder’s play,Our Town:‘Does anybody realize what life is while they’re living it- every, every minute?’ No, we don’t, but we are transformed by what we do realize.
What we also want to realize is the nurturing of WCI Music with support and camaraderie. We can enjoy getting together, and playing a meaningful part for WCI’s music students and community. “High up! Sky Up! Red and White!” Here’s to Chuck Baxter and Igor Saika-Voivod for their fine teaching in singing, band, strings, ensembles and productions. WCI Music Students & Alumni are thriving thanks to you and your colleagues before you! For me it was Sue Willson, Art Patterson, Lew Tebbutt, and Ellen Kellerman, but others have their own “Thank You” lists. I sense a 2016 WCI Music Students & Alumni event in the works!